WAKEFIELD, Mass., March 10, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Specialty insurance underwriter HCC Specialty announced today its new strategic alliance with Maryland-based Weather Analytics, an innovative provider of precision climate and weather data and analytics. Through this strategic alliance, HCC Specialty will have access to historical and real-time global hourly data for more than 100 weather variables and indices. Weather insurance policyholders now will be able to instantaneously access Weather Analytics' precise weather verification data using a custom smartphone application.
"Innovation in the weather insurance market has been virtually non-existent during my 23 years in this industry. Our strategic alliance with Weather Analytics and our joint creation of these products and tools immediately and significantly changes that history," said Sean Curtin, Senior Vice President of HCC Specialty's Contingency and Commercial Package divisions. "I am excited to launch these new weather insurance products, verification tools and delivery systems, which will quickly expand the overall sports, hospitality, entertainment and leisure markets."
Bill Pardue, Weather Analytics' Chair & Chief Executive Officer added, "HCC Specialty has an amazing track record of innovation and product leadership in its market. We're delighted to work with a team so driven to deliver superior products to its customers. This team is used to moving at a fast pace and their appetite for entering un-chartered territory on a regular basis is a perfect match for us."
Using a smartphone application, HCC Specialty weather insurance policyholders can access relevant data for their specific area of interest through Weather Analytics' global coverage of hyper-local climate data. This proprietary technology provides policyholders a revolutionary platform to verify precise data specific to their location, while simultaneously streamlining the claims process in the event of a covered loss.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HCC) is a leading specialty insurer with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain and Ireland. As of December 31, 2014, HCC had assets of $10.7 billion and shareholders' equity of $3.9 billion. HCC's major domestic and international insurance companies have financial strength ratings of "AA (Very Strong)" from Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC, "A+ (Superior)" from A.M. Best Company, Inc., "AA (Very Strong)" from Fitch Ratings, and "A1 (Good Security)" from Moody's Investors Service, Inc. For more information about HCC, please visit http://www.hcc.com.
Weather Analytics is a leading data and analytics company based in Bethesda, Maryland that offers historical, current, and forecast weather and climate information for anywhere in the world. They answer global weather intelligence questions and provide solutions to businesses and organizations impacted by the state of the atmosphere. Weather Analytics data combines over three decades of statistically-stable climate history as well as current and forecast weather content coupled with proprietary analytics methodologies. With a team of meteorologists and data scientists, they leverage more than 50 times the global historical climate data than any other source or provider. For more information about Weather Analytics, please visit http://www.weatheranalytics.com.
Headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts, HCC Specialty is among the industry's leading managing underwriters of innovative specialty insurance products, including high-limit disability, crisis management, contingency, DIC, prize indemnity, international medical and travel medical insurance, and special program business. HCC Specialty is a division of HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. For more information about HCC Specialty, please visit http://www.hccspecialty.com.
Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made under "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The types of risks and uncertainties which may affect the Company are set forth in its periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.